I love credit cards so much! v5.0 - 2022 (see first page for add'l details)

[*WDW*Groupie*]

Dd and I got back from our London, Edinburgh, Dublin and Long trip last Friday. I will try to summarize the accommodations in this post and a small overview of the trip in another.

We ended up flying to London via Frankfurt on Lufthansa business class for 70K Aeroplan points / pp. I was hoping that AC would upgrade us on their direct flight, but it didn't work out, so I booked the Lufthansa flight less than 48 hours before we left. We were in the middle section (2-3-2) behind the bathrooms, so it was a bit noisy until people went to sleep, but I liked the seats and the amenity kit came in a (very handy) reusable shopping bag and had L'Occitane amenities, which I will definitely use (definitely one of the best amenity kits I've received in biz class). We had a 2 hour layover in Frankfurt, but we were 1 hour late leaving Toronto, so I was worried about making the connection. We landed and made a mad dash (like 90% of the people on our plane lol) down and up a few flights of stairs (FRA needs escalators), on a short bus ride and made it to the gate 15 mins before boarding commenced. The flight from FRA to LHR was on time and had the best light meal I've ever had on a plane (German sausage with a fresh roll and potato salad -- so good that I ate dd's since she's vegetarian and they didn't have any food for her). Landed on time at Heathrow and had a 60 minute wait at the egates to clear customs. Turns out that while we made our connection our luggage didn't (we always have 2-3 days of clothes and toiletries in our carry-ons, so filed a quick report and hoped on the Heathrow Express to Paddington, then took a cab from there to the Biltmore LXR.

I booked the Biltmore on points and had pretty high expectations. I will say that if you want to stay here, go in with no expectations and you probably won't be disappointed. I probably should have known the stay wouldn't be flawless based on the little drama that I experienced before we left (with the upgrade, which I already posted about). Our room was ready and it was gorgeous. We dropped our bags, each had a quick shower, changed our clothes and headed out shopping. We had an amazing dinner at Mildred's (a well known vegetarian restaurant) and walked back to the hotel. Yet, still no welcome amenity and also no mini bar (which is complementary with Junior Suites and above). I called the front desk and they had the Duty Manager call me back. The DM told me that they don't offer mini bars, to which I told her it's on their website; she looked on her website and saw that it was there. She then told me that since I was upgraded to the room and didn't pay cash for it I wasn't entitled to the mini bar. Umm, what? To me that's like saying passengers upgraded to biz or first class aren't entitled to meals. However no point in discussing the logic with her since she was firm that I wasn't going to get it. I then asked about the welcome amenity and she said it would be brought up the next day. I called the Diamond desk and they said that I should definitely get the mini bar and they would reach out to the hotel (the hotel never responded to Hilton). The welcome amenity arrived the next day and it was.....a giant bowl of dates and a plate with an apple and orange (the apple had a worm hole). Not sure if they are considered a luxury item, but I am not a fan of dates. I will say that the breakfast at the hotel was amazing; as a Diamond we could have anything from the continental buffet and also a hotel item from the menu. Thoroughly enjoyed the breakfast here, however it was very, very slow to come a few days. There were numerous issues throughout our 6 night stay as it seems that the hotel is extremely short-staffed and was running at, or close, to full occupancy. I am not sure if I would stay here again as I'd like to try the Conrad, which is less points. I would not have been happy if I had paid cash, but since it was points I was willing to overlook several service fails since the property is so nice and the location is amazing (6 min walk to Oxford Street / Oxford Circus tube station).

Entry and closets

Sitting Area

Bedroom



Sorry, no pics of the bathroom, but it was very nice with 2 sinks, stand-alone tub and shower, heated towel rack and heated floor.

 

[IFlossU]

I had a chance to stop in to the Centurian lounge in the Phoenix airport this afternoon. I was glad to get a chance to use this plat benefit before downgrading the card, mostly because I was reminded that while lounges are nice, they are not $700 per year nice. The best thing about this lounge was actually the bathroom. The food was pretty mediocre--some compressed chicken thing and some rice. And DH hates that he has to talk to the bartender to get a diet coke (the Delta lounges do the soft drinks much better, if I remember correctly). The lounge wasn't any less crowded than the restaurants we passed, and someone had the genius idea to block off (as in put "reserved" signs on) a bunch of tables for parties of three or more people, to supposedly promote social distancing--but there were zero parties of three people sitting at these tables, so social distancing was actually lessened because everyone else was confined to the non-reserved tables. Overall, I was disappointed in the experience but also happy that I can say goodbye to my plat and not feel bad about not having access to the lounges.

We love lounges… It’s nice not to pay $15 for a sandwich x4 and have a glass of wine plus fast wifi.

I've become a lounge diva as well and while they can be quite busy (to the point of chaotic), not as frenzied as the gate area/terminal as a whole, imho.

I love a lounge as well. Much better than sitting at the gate, but I will 100% agree with @AmyAnne. The Centurion lounge at PHX Sky Harbor was incredibly disappointing. For how they are marketed, and the cost of holding a Platinum card I was expecting something nicer. I have had nicer experiences in Hyatt House breakfast areas I wouldn’t go out of my way to go again.

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

We took the train from King's Cross to Edinburgh. DD and I both LOVE the LNER trains and the 4h20m ride flew by. We both received a full meal, but it was nothing to get excited about (she gave her veg sandwich to a homeless man outside of the train station).

We walked to the Glasshouse (we took a circuitous route with our luggage and Edinburgh is a hilly city, so not the most fun lol). I had received notice from the hotel 48 hours before we arrived that we were upgraded to one of their New Town Suite using my SNA (this was a paid stay at the AAA rate of 255 Euros / night, which I thought was unbeatable). When we arrived we were offered their top tier suite, however the Front Desk Manager wanted to show us the room because he explained that it was a bit of a hike from the lobby. He wasn't kidding -- it was up 1 floor on the elevator, across a long hallway, then down another elevator and a bit of a walk to the room (Edinburgh is built on many hills and this hotel is built into a hill). The room was nice, but the bathroom was odd -- a huge and odd bathtub in the room and only 1 sink with almost no countertop for toiletries. He then took us to our assigned suite, which was just 1 elevator ride up and a much shorter walk; this room also had a huge balcony and 2 sinks outside of the bathroom with a decent amount of counter space for us. We elected to stay in our assigned suite because I liked having sinks outside of the bathroom and the balcony. However the suite overlooked the road in front of the hotel which has construction for a new rail line; I asked about noise from the construction vehicles and was assured that there wasn't any (in fact the constructions vehicles starting backing up -- beep, beep, beep -- at 6:45am; this was only an issue the 1 day that we weren't up before then, so not a big deal).

Breakfast was okay -- certainly nothing to celebrate, but cereal, milk, yogurt and fruit, which was enough for me; we could pay 10 Euros for a hot item off the menu, which I did on our last day because the hotel gave me a 10 Euro voucher when I checked in (they also gave us 2 drink coupons for the bar, which we never used); we could also have oatmeal included with the buffet, which dd did a few days and she enjoyed it.

The staff at the hotel were amazing -- truly some of the best we had on our trip. So friendly and always smiling and asking if they could help us with anything. There was a welcome amenity of some macaroons, fudge and a few other things -- didn't look very appetizing so we didn't eat, but appreciated the effort. Our second last day they left a very nice tin of shortbreads, which we really appreciated. Bottles of water were replenished (most) days. No turn down service, but not an issue for us since I can close curtains and fold down sheets lol.

The hotel was built in 1999 (I think) and it needs a refresh. However for the price we paid I was happy with our room. I loved having 2 sinks outside of the bathroom, the stand-up shower was nice and there was a heated towel rack. Closet space was lacking so the couch in the room turned into a makeshift closet! The mattress was WAY too soft for me -- the front desk put a board underneath and tried to remedy it but nothing worked. It was okay once we fell asleep, but I swear when we sat on it the mattress almost touched the floor.

The one negative thing for me was the location. I knew this ahead of time but since the price was so good I thought I could overlook it. We made do, but I wouldn't choose this location again. I'd much prefer to be in Old Town or at least closer to Old Town. There was a day where I walked over 30k steps which is a lot for me; dd met her friend from middle school that day and she walked over 35k steps.The hotel was across the street from the recently completed St James Quarter which has shops and several good restaurants, so that was a plus, but not enough to make me to want to stay at the Glasshouse again. Bonus: the stay netted me 26k bonblah points for our 6 nights (plus the points from my Marriott card) and I am that much closer to platinum status this year.

Sitting area / balcony




Sinks with angled view of the shower

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

We flew from Edinburgh to Southhampton, then Southhampton to Dublin via LoganAir and British Air. I paid cash for the flights as the flights I redeemed on BA had a 4 hour layover and we only had 2 days in Dublin. Flights left on time and were uneventful. We waited an hour for our luggage in Dublin which was very frustrating since our plane only had 14 checked bags (some other passengers counted). We took an Uber (the line for cabs was insanely long -- our Uber arrived as we got to the ride share area) to the Conrad Dublin, which I booked through a Virtuoso agent ($100.00 credit and upgrade on arrival). We were upgraded to a King Premium room, which was very nice; while the room was recently renovated the bathroom is original and definitely needs a renovation. The bed was extremely comfortable (a welcome change after the Glasshouse). We walked through St. Stephens Green to Grafton Street, wandered around a bit, then took an Uber to the Guinness Storehouse. We took a taxi back to the Conrad, ordered room service (to use the $100.00 credit) and went to bed. The welcome amenity here was 2 small bottles of Bailey's Irish cream and a piece of chocolate cake and it was waiting in our room when we arrived. There was also a Conrad bear on our bed! We had breakfast the next morning in the restaurant -- as a Diamond we were able to eat anything off the buffet as well as 1 hot item each; the hot food was good and delivered promptly. This stay was flawless.

We had another stay here, which I will summarize as a disaster, after our 2 night visit to Ashford Castle (recommended by @calypso726). It seems that the hotel is extremely short-staffed as the concierge is also the valet, front desk agent and turn down person; dd saw one of the front desk agents vacuuming the hallway to our room. I tried to order room service and it rang to voice mail 5 times before I called the front desk (which rang until the line went dead, but on the 3rd call they picked up and took our food order). Dd found a large clump of black hair on the bottom of the tub / shower combination and also several black hairs on the wall (beyond disgusting). Housekeeping had left for the day, so one of the front desk agents came up to thoroughly clean the bathroom because apparently he was the only staff on-site trained to clean (lucky guy...not). While the location wasn't awful, I would probably stay at the Westbury next time since I prefer the location.

 

[disneybirds]

Dd and I got back from our London, Edinburgh, Dublin and Long trip last Friday. I will try to summarize the accommodations in this post and a small overview of the trip in another.

We ended up flying to London via Frankfurt on Lufthansa business class for 70K Aeroplan points / pp. I was hoping that AC would upgrade us on their direct flight, but it didn't work out, so I booked the Lufthansa flight less than 48 hours before we left. We were in the middle section (2-3-2) behind the bathrooms, so it was a bit noisy until people went to sleep, but I liked the seats and the amenity kit came in a (very handy) reusable shopping bag and had L'Occitane amenities, which I will definitely use (definitely one of the best amenity kits I've received in biz class). We had a 2 hour layover in Frankfurt, but we were 1 hour late leaving Toronto, so I was worried about making the connection. We landed and made a mad dash (like 90% of the people on our plane lol) down and up a few flights of stairs (FRA needs escalators), on a short bus ride and made it to the gate 15 mins before boarding commenced. The flight from FRA to LHR was on time and had the best light meal I've ever had on a plane (German sausage with a fresh roll and potato salad -- so good that I ate dd's since she's vegetarian and they didn't have any food for her). Landed on time at Heathrow and had a 60 minute wait at the egates to clear customs. Turns out that while we made our connection our luggage didn't (we always have 2-3 days of clothes and toiletries in our carry-ons, so filed a quick report and hoped on the Heathrow Express to Paddington, then took a cab from there to the Biltmore LXR.

I booked the Biltmore on points and had pretty high expectations. I will say that if you want to stay here, go in with no expectations and you probably won't be disappointed. I probably should have known the stay wouldn't be flawless based on the little drama that I experienced before we left (with the upgrade, which I already posted about). Our room was ready and it was gorgeous. We dropped our bags, each had a quick shower, changed our clothes and headed out shopping. We had an amazing dinner at Mildred's (a well known vegetarian restaurant) and walked back to the hotel. Yet, still no welcome amenity and also no mini bar (which is complementary with Junior Suites and above). I called the front desk and they had the Duty Manager call me back. The DM told me that they don't offer mini bars, to which I told her it's on their website; she looked on her website and saw that it was there. She then told me that since I was upgraded to the room and didn't pay cash for it I wasn't entitled to the mini bar. Umm, what? To me that's like saying passengers upgraded to biz or first class aren't entitled to meals. However no point in discussing the logic with her since she was firm that I wasn't going to get it. I then asked about the welcome amenity and she said it would be brought up the next day. I called the Diamond desk and they said that I should definitely get the mini bar and they would reach out to the hotel (the hotel never responded to Hilton). The welcome amenity arrived the next day and it was.....a giant bowl of dates and a plate with an apple and orange (the apple had a worm hole). Not sure if they are considered a luxury item, but I am not a fan of dates. I will say that the breakfast at the hotel was amazing; as a Diamond we could have anything from the continental buffet and also a hotel item from the menu. Thoroughly enjoyed the breakfast here, however it was very, very slow to come a few days. There were numerous issues throughout our 6 night stay as it seems that the hotel is extremely short-staffed and was running at, or close, to full occupancy. I am not sure if I would stay here again as I'd like to try the Conrad, which is less points. I would not have been happy if I had paid cash, but since it was points I was willing to overlook several service fails since the property is so nice and the location is amazing (6 min walk to Oxford Street / Oxford Circus tube station).

Entry and closets
View attachment 671610
Sitting Area
View attachment 671611
Bedroom
View attachment 671612


Sorry, no pics of the bathroom, but it was very nice with 2 sinks, stand-alone tub and shower, heated towel rack and heated floor.

Thanks for the info! We are doing Dublin/London/Edinburgh this summer so I look forward to hearing more.

I just cancelled the Conrad this morning booked on UR points. I was going to cancel the Chase card and wanted the reservation on my new card. Of course, it is going to cost more to rebook but I wasn't sure how the points would be handled if I cancelled the hotel reservation on a cancelled Chase card.

Love to hear about all your trips!!

 

[tink1970]

We took the train from King's Cross to Edinburgh. DD and I both LOVE the LNER trains and the 4h20m ride flew by. We both received a full meal, but it was nothing to get excited about (she gave her veg sandwich to a homeless man outside of the train station).

We walked to the Glasshouse (we took a circuitous route with our luggage and Edinburgh is a hilly city, so not the most fun lol). I had received notice from the hotel 48 hours before we arrived that we were upgraded to one of their New Town Suite using my SNA (this was a paid stay at the AAA rate of 255 Euros / night, which I thought was unbeatable). When we arrived we were offered their top tier suite, however the Front Desk Manager wanted to show us the room because he explained that it was a bit of a hike from the lobby. He wasn't kidding -- it was up 1 floor on the elevator, across a long hallway, then down another elevator and a bit of a walk to the room (Edinburgh is built on many hills and this hotel is built into a hill). The room was nice, but the bathroom was odd -- a huge and odd bathtub in the room and only 1 sink with almost no countertop for toiletries. He then took us to our assigned suite, which was just 1 elevator ride up and a much shorter walk; this room also had a huge balcony and 2 sinks outside of the bathroom with a decent amount of counter space for us. We elected to stay in our assigned suite because I liked having sinks outside of the bathroom and the balcony. However the suite overlooked the road in front of the hotel which has construction for a new rail line; I asked about noise from the construction vehicles and was assured that there wasn't any (in fact the constructions vehicles starting backing up -- beep, beep, beep -- at 6:45am; this was only an issue the 1 day that we weren't up before then, so not a big deal).

Breakfast was okay -- certainly nothing to celebrate, but cereal, milk, yogurt and fruit, which was enough for me; we could pay 10 Euros for a hot item off the menu, which I did on our last day because the hotel gave me a 10 Euro voucher when I checked in (they also gave us 2 drink coupons for the bar, which we never used); we could also have oatmeal included with the buffet, which dd did a few days and she enjoyed it.

The staff at the hotel were amazing -- truly some of the best we had on our trip. So friendly and always smiling and asking if they could help us with anything. There was a welcome amenity of some macaroons, fudge and a few other things -- didn't look very appetizing so we didn't eat, but appreciated the effort. Our second last day they left a very nice tin of shortbreads, which we really appreciated. Bottles of water were replenished (most) days. No turn down service, but not an issue for us since I can close curtains and fold down sheets lol.

The hotel was built in 1999 (I think) and it needs a refresh. However for the price we paid I was happy with our room. I loved having 2 sinks outside of the bathroom, the stand-up shower was nice and there was a heated towel rack. Closet space was lacking so the couch in the room turned into a makeshift closet! The mattress was WAY too soft for me -- the front desk put a board underneath and tried to remedy it but nothing worked. It was okay once we fell asleep, but I swear when we sat on it the mattress almost touched the floor.

The one negative thing for me was the location. I knew this ahead of time but since the price was so good I thought I could overlook it. We made do, but I wouldn't choose this location again. I'd much prefer to be in Old Town or at least closer to Old Town. There was a day where I walked over 30k steps which is a lot for me; dd met her friend from middle school that day and she walked over 35k steps.The hotel was across the street from the recently completed St James Quarter which has shops and several good restaurants, so that was a plus, but not enough to make me to want to stay at the Glasshouse again. Bonus: the stay netted me 26k bonblah points for our 6 nights (plus the points from my Marriott card) and I am that much closer to platinum status this year.

Sitting area / balcony
View attachment 671615

View attachment 671616

Sinks with angled view of the showerView attachment 671618

LOL on the hills in Edinburgh with luggage-I can only imagine!
I remember you changed from my beloved Sheraton to the Glasshouse and I appreciate your review of the Glasshouse-if it had been wonderful I might have switched loyalties but I don't think I shall (unless I'm planning a stay at the Balmoral-still on my to do list!). I'm sorry to hear about your issues the second stay at the Conrad in Dublin-pre 2020 the Shelbourne was very nice, too, if you've Bonvoy points to burn. Is the Westbury an independent and where is it located?

It sounds like a wonderful trip and I'm jealous-I do miss Scotland so much!

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

We had a driver pre-arranged through my Virtuoso TA to take us to Ashford Castle, which is just shy of 3 hours from Dublin. There aren't adequate words to describe Ashford Castle. It was breathtakingly beautiful. The staff here made us feel like royalty. Probably my favorite hotel stay ever. If you ever have the chance I can't recommend it highly enough. Food was beyond delicious, staff were amazing, grounds were stunning, activities were well-run and did I mention that the staff were incredible?

I had booked a Lake View deluxe room and while it was compact, who cares? We were staying in a castle! The bathroom was large and gorgeous with heated marble floors, large stand-alone shower, heated towel rack, stand-alone tub and 2 sinks and also had a stunning view of the lake.

The afternoon we arrived we had booked a 2 hour horseback ride. We took a quick walk to town for lunch (oops, the restaurants are closed on Monday, so we went to the sandwich bar at the Spar station and they turned out to be very good -- I also had a sausage patty and it was delicious). We speed-walked to the castle for our trail ride. They fitted us with boots and a helmet, assessed our riding skills (dd is an expert and I am a low-level intermediate rider) and we set off. My horse was stubborn and wanted to snack on grass and leaves, but after 5 or 10 mins I was able to get him under control. We trotted and galloped as much as the trails would allow and dd and I both LOVED our ride. The 2 hours flew by. Dd loved her ride so much that she booked a lesson the following morning (she hasn't ridden since she fell and suffered a serious concussion a few years ago). We had dinner the first night at George V and it was positively divine. After dinner we went to the lounge, where they had a piano / guitar duet, who were excellent. We stayed there until just after 11:00pm.

Our first and only full day we went for a walk with the hotels 2 Irish Wolfhounds, which are 165lbs and stand at 6'4" on their hind legs, through the forest and it was very nice. Upon our return we had an AMAZING breakfast and dd went to the room to get ready for her riding lesson while I went on the lake cruise! We met for a delicious lunch in the drawing room and walked the grounds a bit before our 60 min archery session (so much fun!). Dinner this night was at Cullen's and it was very good! We went back to the castle and spent a little while in the lounge before we turned in for the night.

The last morning we did the dog walk through the forest again, then breakfast and a falcon walk. We both LOVED the falcon walk.

We were both so enamored with our stay that we decided that we will go back next year for 5 or 6 nights.

bedroom

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

LOL on the hills in Edinburgh with luggage-I can only imagine!
I remember you changed from my beloved Sheraton to the Glasshouse and I appreciate your review of the Glasshouse-if it had been wonderful I might have switched loyalties but I don't think I shall (unless I'm planning a stay at the Balmoral-still on my to do list!). I'm sorry to hear about your issues the second stay at the Conrad in Dublin-pre 2020 the Shelbourne was very nice, too, if you've Bonvoy points to burn. Is the Westbury an independent and where is it located?

It sounds like a wonderful trip and I'm jealous-I do miss Scotland so much!

I would have preferred the Sheraton, but they didn't have any suites for our stay and I wanted to use some of my 10 SNAs.

LOVE the location of the Balmoral. Red Carnation (which owns / operates Ashford Castle and a few of the top hotels in London) is opening 100 Princes St. in November and it sounds like it will be a very strong competitor for the Balmoral. Virgin is opening in a few weeks on Victoria Street and the preliminary pics look very nice. Who the heck knows when the W is opening -- scheduled for last year, then winter, 2022, but it still has some scaffolding outside (but I didn't like the location so wouldn't even consider it).

The Westbury is located just off Grafton Street, where all the independent shops and yummy restaurants are. I had booked the Shelbourne for May 15-19 on a very, very good AAA rate and applied SNAs. However I forgot to extend the stay to the 20th when I changed our flights. We got upgraded to a 1 bedroom suite overlooking St. Stephens Green, but I would've had to change the reservation to May 15-16 and then the 18-20th and the rates had gone up significantly and from what I read I might have lost my SNAs.

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

London:
Our first morning I had booked a private black cab tour of the HP filming sites in London. Dd absolutely loved it and I also enjoyed it. Our driver was excellent and I'm sure that we saw all the HP sites in London with him. He dropped us at Borough Market where we had a delicious lunch, purchased some tea and then we took the tube back to our hotel.....well we never made it to the hotel because I had forgotten to pack the charging cord for my iPad, so I had to go to the Apple Store, which turned into a stroll down Oxford Street where dd did some damage shopping at Pull & Bear and I bought a new bag at Longchamp (Andre collab). We eventually made it back to the hotel, showered, changed clothes and took a cab to Rovia for her birthday dinner; we met a friend that we've known since they attended Pre-K together (his parents live in Tokyo and he is entering his 3rd year of law school at London School of Economics -- we usually see them at least once or twice a year). The food here is excellent and the service was top-notch.

Next day we hired a tour guide / driver through Tours by Locals for a day trip to some HP filming sites that dd wanted to visit (Lacock Abbey, Gloucester Cathedral and Christchurch). This was a very, very long day, but AMAZING. Our driver / guide, Raymond, was excellent. Lacock is a gorgeous town in the Cotswolds and it is so picturesque. We had Cornish pasties (so good) from a tiny bakery in town for lunch (dd had a veg pastry of some sort), toured the Abbey, walked around town and then left for Gloucester. While the town is nothing special, dd really, really wanted to see the Cathedral where a few scenes from the first, second and I believe the 3rd films were shot. The Cathedral was gorgeous; after we toured here we headed for Oxford. We made it to Christchurch within 45 mins of the 5pm closing and did a tour of the main filming sites; we also got to see the famous dining hall which JKR apparently based the Hogwarts dining hall off of. We saw the library (can't recall what this was used for) and our guide got some students to take dd into the courtyard where the famous tree is located (sorry, can't recall the significance of this either, but she was thrilled).

On our way back to London we stopped in a small town and had dinner at Ivy, which was delicious. We took a few pics and headed back to our hotel. It was a long day, but we both really, really enjoyed. The countryside is so pretty.

Birthday dinner (I was only allowed 1 picture!)

 

[EACarlson]

OK, so is this a situation where United would allow you to cancel at no charge (we did NOT book refundable seats)? We have always tried for around a 1:15-1:30 layover on our trips down, and just sitting in the airport for 3 hours doesn't sound fun.

It sounds like they should. What was your original city pair and itinerary? If it was a non-stop and they added a layover it would certainly qualify as a "significant schedule change" and be eligible for a full refund to the original method of payment. If they changed your layover it's entirely up to the policies of the airline. I'm not well versed enough in UA policies to tell you what causes that to kick in.

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

@sinnika Just wanted to mention I recently took advantage of Chase's 30% bonus transfer promotion to Virgin Atlantic. Scored economy OW flights from Chicago-Italy for about 9k points plus a couple hundred in taxes, for November.

I see they have flights from Houston-Frankfurt for about 19k +$177 OW, so about 15k Chase points + taxes fees with the 30% transfer bonus. Not sure how that compares to what you are paying with United, but I thought you might be interested. Lots of availability for KLM and AF flights.

 

[thevalley]

Hello All,

I applied for the AA aviator business card last night and it went pending. Today I missed a call from Delaware. The status link says it could take up to 10 days to update. Should I call in and talk to someone? I am past 24 months since I closed the last Aviator card. They did pull TU thanks.

 

[DaveL]

Getting down to the wire for my WDW trip and was just thinking, With all the cost increases combined with the fact that you can't really plan anything with G+ this is the first trip I have not booked a single sit down meal. I have not bothered to check reservations, but I have to wonder how many else have cut back the same way.

 

[Haley R]

Getting down to the wire for my WDW trip and was just thinking, With all the cost increases combined with the fact that you can't really plan anything with G+ this is the first trip I have not booked a single sit down meal. I have not bothered to check reservations, but I have to wonder how many else have cut back the same way.

We rarely ever do any sit down meals anymore. Part of that is because we have a toddler but we also just don’t want to pay for them. We bring a lot of our own food or do quick service

 

[wanderlust7]

Getting down to the wire for my WDW trip and was just thinking, With all the cost increases combined with the fact that you can't really plan anything with G+ this is the first trip I have not booked a single sit down meal. I have not bothered to check reservations, but I have to wonder how many else have cut back the same way.

I canceled a couple ADRs when we were there once I realized that I wanted the flexibility for G+. Was happy with the ones I did keep since they were experiences we can't have elsewhere (Sci-Fi, Space 220 Lounge, and Rose and Crown Harmonious package).

 

[CyndiLouWho]

you can do it but like gift cards from what I've found it's a TERRIBLE redemption of less than 1 cent a point. When I looked pre covid it was .5 cents a point just like amazon gift cards less than a cent even buying it and doing cash back is a better value. unless there is someone with a hack that I wasn't able to find. Undercover tourist with the Disney promo code is better than the Disneys website.

Gift cards are 1 cpp. $20 GC = 2000 URs. Some GCs are offered 'on sale' at $20 GC for 1800 URs. Cashback is the same. I can cash out my 160,000 URs for a $1600 deposit into my checking account. Maybe it's not the "best" use in cpp but sometimes it's the best use for me. My goal is not "travel the world in biz class to stay at 5 star hotel suites." I mean that's great but my goal is simply "travel for free" or as close to free as possible.
You may also be thinking of Citi TY points which I do believe are worth less than 1 cpp for cash and GCs and are no longer worth more than 1 cpp even booking through their portal.

 

[miztressuz]

Hello All,

I applied for the AA aviator business card last night and it went pending. Today I missed a call from Delaware. The status link says it could take up to 10 days to update. Should I call in and talk to someone? I am past 24 months since I closed the last Aviator card. They did pull TU thanks.

Could check the status link tomorrow and see what happens. Or do you have any other Barclays cards? Many reports of approved cards just showing up in your existing login, even if they missed a call and didn't talk to anyone, so you could check there too. If not it doesn't hurt to call then. They just ask you what's on the application anyway, maybe a little more detail. Mostly it's painless. But if you can wait you might not need to speak with anyone if you don't want to.

Here's a relevant DP from r/churning

https://www.reddit.com/r/churning/comments/unwrrr/_/i8c5qfy

 

[disneybirds]

Getting down to the wire for my WDW trip and was just thinking, With all the cost increases combined with the fact that you can't really plan anything with G+ this is the first trip I have not booked a single sit down meal. I have not bothered to check reservations, but I have to wonder how many else have cut back the same way.

We had several reservations and I ended up cancelling most of them. We kept Le Creperie since we had never been and Via Napoli which is one of the girls' favorites. I cancelled Steakhouse 71 since it wasn't that great the last time and it takes alot of time. I also cancelled Hollywood Brown Derby when I realized that they no longer had a lunch menu. I didn't like waking up at 7 am every day and not being able to plan our days better.

 

[Duckbug.Ducktales]

Getting down to the wire for my WDW trip and was just thinking, With all the cost increases combined with the fact that you can't really plan anything with G+ this is the first trip I have not booked a single sit down meal. I have not bothered to check reservations, but I have to wonder how many else have cut back the same way.

I enjoy a lot of the restaurants. We do one sit down meal per day and have ADRs. But it's not been too difficult to plan around even if we happened to buy G+ that day. The restaurants are pretty flexible in my experience when it comes to G+, we have been an hour late before and they still seat us.

I have noticed that with G+, walk ups do seem to be a thing at some restaurants. Certain experiences like Space 2020 or popular restaurants like Topolinos probably not so much, but we walked up to 50's Prime Time Cafe (one of our favorites) last November and only had to wait 20 min.

 

[FreeDiningFanatic]

Dd and I got back from our London, Edinburgh, Dublin and Long trip last Friday. I will try to summarize the accommodations in this post and a small overview of the trip in another.

We ended up flying to London via Frankfurt on Lufthansa business class for 70K Aeroplan points / pp. I was hoping that AC would upgrade us on their direct flight, but it didn't work out, so I booked the Lufthansa flight less than 48 hours before we left. We were in the middle section (2-3-2) behind the bathrooms, so it was a bit noisy until people went to sleep, but I liked the seats and the amenity kit came in a (very handy) reusable shopping bag and had L'Occitane amenities, which I will definitely use (definitely one of the best amenity kits I've received in biz class). We had a 2 hour layover in Frankfurt, but we were 1 hour late leaving Toronto, so I was worried about making the connection. We landed and made a mad dash (like 90% of the people on our plane lol) down and up a few flights of stairs (FRA needs escalators), on a short bus ride and made it to the gate 15 mins before boarding commenced. The flight from FRA to LHR was on time and had the best light meal I've ever had on a plane (German sausage with a fresh roll and potato salad -- so good that I ate dd's since she's vegetarian and they didn't have any food for her). Landed on time at Heathrow and had a 60 minute wait at the egates to clear customs. Turns out that while we made our connection our luggage didn't (we always have 2-3 days of clothes and toiletries in our carry-ons, so filed a quick report and hoped on the Heathrow Express to Paddington, then took a cab from there to the Biltmore LXR.

I booked the Biltmore on points and had pretty high expectations. I will say that if you want to stay here, go in with no expectations and you probably won't be disappointed. I probably should have known the stay wouldn't be flawless based on the little drama that I experienced before we left (with the upgrade, which I already posted about). Our room was ready and it was gorgeous. We dropped our bags, each had a quick shower, changed our clothes and headed out shopping. We had an amazing dinner at Mildred's (a well known vegetarian restaurant) and walked back to the hotel. Yet, still no welcome amenity and also no mini bar (which is complementary with Junior Suites and above). I called the front desk and they had the Duty Manager call me back. The DM told me that they don't offer mini bars, to which I told her it's on their website; she looked on her website and saw that it was there. She then told me that since I was upgraded to the room and didn't pay cash for it I wasn't entitled to the mini bar. Umm, what? To me that's like saying passengers upgraded to biz or first class aren't entitled to meals. However no point in discussing the logic with her since she was firm that I wasn't going to get it. I then asked about the welcome amenity and she said it would be brought up the next day. I called the Diamond desk and they said that I should definitely get the mini bar and they would reach out to the hotel (the hotel never responded to Hilton). The welcome amenity arrived the next day and it was.....a giant bowl of dates and a plate with an apple and orange (the apple had a worm hole). Not sure if they are considered a luxury item, but I am not a fan of dates. I will say that the breakfast at the hotel was amazing; as a Diamond we could have anything from the continental buffet and also a hotel item from the menu. Thoroughly enjoyed the breakfast here, however it was very, very slow to come a few days. There were numerous issues throughout our 6 night stay as it seems that the hotel is extremely short-staffed and was running at, or close, to full occupancy. I am not sure if I would stay here again as I'd like to try the Conrad, which is less points. I would not have been happy if I had paid cash, but since it was points I was willing to overlook several service fails since the property is so nice and the location is amazing (6 min walk to Oxford Street / Oxford Circus tube station).

Entry and closets
View attachment 671610
Sitting Area
View attachment 671611
Bedroom
View attachment 671612


Sorry, no pics of the bathroom, but it was very nice with 2 sinks, stand-alone tub and shower, heated towel rack and heated floor.

This room at the Biltmore is absolutely gorgeous! Stunning.

You get to walk the Irish Wolfhounds at Ashford Castle? That would be the best. We often talk about our Greece trip and how cats would dine with you, sleep on your balconies sunsails, etc. My kids even named "their cats." One was "Dirty Dan" because he would beg for food and petting and then once he got food he did you dirty and left. In Santorini, while we were standing on our patio overlooking the caldera, a cat said "excuse me, pardon me, excuse me, pardon me" and slunk through our legs and ran under our cave house bed. According to my kids, that cat "wasn't even one of our cats."